New York Jets
The Jets and Rex Ryan are currently the laughing stock of the NFL, and they’ve won the honor of the most dysfunctional team in the NFL. If I were team owner Woody Johnson, I would have fired Ryan the instant I heard he cried while begging the team to come together as a family. Then, Ryan topped off the season ending theatrics by saying that the Jets would have no team captains next season.
Really, the last couple of days have been a microcosm of the Jets’ season. While Ryan’s emotional team address is entertaining to think about, the team captain issue is a bigger problem. The Jets have no leadership, and it appears that the team is already conceding that will continue to be the case in 2012. No team captains? That just won’t work.
Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins are a close second in terms of dysfunctional teams. Dolphins general manager, Jeff Ireland, has zero fan support and has a terrible track record, yet for some insane reason he still has a job. While it’s not as bad as it was during the Matt Millen era in Detroit, it’s certainly beginning to get that feel to it. Someone needs to inform the Dolphins that it’s time to move on without Ireland. If not, no coach can find their way to the playoffs, because you just can’t win games with talentless players.
St. Louis Rams
The Rams are a distant third in this race. After firing their head coach and general manager, the Rams are in full-fledged re-build mode. Sam Bradford showed no progress in 2011 after a solid rookie campaign in 2010. In 2011, Steven Jackson ran for over 1,000 yards for the 7th consecutive season. Jackson is just 28 years old, but running backs don’t often stay effective after about 30 years of age, and his talent is largely being wasted in St. Louis.
It’s often said that a team can re-build in a year or two in the NFL, and that’s just not true. Teams that simply need to re-tool their team can do so in a season or two. Teams that are going through a massive re-build, such as the Rams, can expect to wait three to four years before they’ve made it back to being a playoff caliber team.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers take home the honorable mention position on this list. I almost left the list at three, but the Bucs made the list on the back of how they fired Raheem Morris. If you’ll remember, there was a report some time ago that the Bucs wanted to fire Morris during the season, but they kept him because they didn’t feel that their coaching staff could function with one less coach. On top of that incident, Morris seemed to believe that he’d be back as the Buccaneers head coach next season all along, or perhaps he was just telling himself that to get through the rest of a lame duck season.
